Marvel’s ‘Agent Carter’ TV Series Casts Two Key Roles

The upcoming ABC series Agent Carter has won the title of being the first Marvel Studios project to feature a female lead (not counting the One-Shot that inspired the show), in the form of Hayley Atwell’s Peggy Carter. Atwell’s Captain America: The First Avenger costar Dominic Cooper will be making at least the occasional appearance as Howard Stark on the series, but we now know of two more actors who should each have a fairly consistent presence on the show.

Marvel has confirmed that Enver Gjokaj and Chad Michael Murray have joined the cast for Agent Carter. According to Deadline, Gjokaj will play the “sweet and honorable” Daniel Sousa, a seasoned war veteran who suffered a permanent leg injury in battle; Murray will portray Strategic Scientific Reserve Agent Jack Thompson, but additional details on the character remain under lock and key. However, according to Marvel’s official announcement, both Sousa and Thompson will work alongside Carter “while she takes on a new role at the SSR in New York City.”

Gjokaj’s most noteworthy work to date was on the Joss Whedon sci-fi series Dollhouse, though he’s also appeared on a number of TV shows over the years since then (including, most recently, Extant and Rizzoli & Isles); in addition, Gjokaj made a brief cameo as a modern-day cop during the climactic Battle of Manhattan in Whedon’s first Avengers movie. Murray, as it were, is perhaps best known for his longtime role as Lucas Scott on One Tree Hill; more recently, he appeared on the TV series Chosen and had a small role in the indie drama Fruitvale Station.

The Agent Carter show takes place shortly after the end of WWII – and, in turn, the events that transpired in The First Avengers. As such, Agent Carter will be exploring not only the emotional consequences that the loss of Steve Rogers/Captain America has on Peggy, but also the challenges of being a woman in a male-dominated workplace in the 1940s. Agent Carter has show-runners in the form of Tara Butters and Michele Fazekas, who are also the creators of the Reaper series from the aughts (a show that is generally regarded as being underrated).

Similar to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Agent Carter is expected to offer a blend of human drama with comic book fantasy-inspired espionage action (albeit, in a historical setting this time around). That’s why such folk as The First Avenger director Joe Johnston and the Captain America: The Winter Soldier helmsmen Anthony and Joe Russo have been recruited to call the shots on a handful of episodes in Agent Carter‘s first season (with Cap 1 & 2 writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely having penned the pilot).

All in all, the series is looking to be in pretty good shape, with regards to the talent it has working on both sides of the camera. If all goes well, then Agent Carter‘s debut season will only be the first of multiple eight-episode adventures that feature the title character.

Agent Carter season one will air on ABC in January 2015 (during the mid-season break for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.).